Mermaid

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Pinocchio's Marionette Theater lives on, through a new partnership with the Garden Theatre in Winter Garden. Devoted to the art of puppetry, Pinocchio's closed its longtime Altamonte Mall location in July. Its performances of "The Little Mermaid" at the Garden Theatre, Aug. 23-24, will be the troupe's first since leaving the mall. Founded in 1999, Pinocchio's originally toured its productions before settling in Winter Park. The company moved to the Altamonte Mall in 2009. The shows are designed to introduce children to the performing arts - they are based on stories children know and geared toward kid-length attention spans.

By Robert Johnson and Todd Pack, Sentinel Staff Writers, September 23, 2002

The Voyage of the Little Mermaid attraction at Disney MGM Studios will undergo its second temporary closing and rehab in a year starting next January. But fans of Ariel needn't worry when the multimedia show featuring animations, live performers, puppetry, lasers and special effects closes again. She'll be back and the popular show, which opened in 1992, won't change. "This is basically the second phase of a routine refurbishment that started last year," said Rena Callahan, a Disney spokeswoman.

Jim Abbott on Florida Travel and Postcards from Florida, July 12, 2014

When considering a mermaid's career, one doesn't tend to ponder the occupational hazards. Afternoon thunderstorms, for instance. During my recent visit, the weather threatened to inject unwelcome reality into the mythical underwater world at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park (weekiwachee.com), the historic attraction at the intersection of State Road 50 and U.S. Highway 19 in rural Spring Hill. "There is inclement weather approaching," announced the host at Weeki Wachee's Mermaid Theater, adding that the afternoon show might need to be cut short for the safety of the aquatic performers.

The Little Mermaid is the fun-and-fin-filled feature-length Disney cartoon that revitalized the studio's animation department.The 1989 classic tells the story of Ariel, a 16-year-old mermaid princess whose keen interest in the surface world becomes an obsession when she falls in love with a human prince.This doesn't sit well with her father, an aquatic monarch called Triton. So the sea king dispatches a crab named Sebastian to keep an eye on the royal daughter.In adapting this animated film from Hans Christian Andersen's sad and beautiful fairy tale, writers/directors John Musker and Ron Clements came up with a bright and perky movie.

A Daytona Beach attorney said Tuesday he would pay the estimated cost of a sculpture of a manatee and a mermaid, pushing that statue ahead of three others in a race to see which will decorate the rotunda of the Volusia County administration center.William T. Moore's pledge of as much as $50,000 would free the county council from paying anything for the sculpture by Paul Baliker of Ormond Beach. Council members are to declare a winner in the statue sweepstakes during a meeting on Thursday.

Frances R. Gioe, a former Weeki Wachee mermaid and Altamonte Springs swim instructor, died May 15 from complications associated with Alzheimer's disease. She was 77. Gioe built a career on glamour, gams and 15-pound fins during a time when tourists from around the world flocked to Central Florida to see mermaids swim in the seemingly bottomless Weeki Wachee Springs. Gioe idolized swimmer and film star Esther Williams and hoped to emulate her one day, said her son Barry Dillon of Decatur, Ga. She got her chance at 16, when she and her sister, Mary, were hired to drink, eat and perform ballet underwater in the exotic Gulf Coast attraction that Newton Perry built in Weeki Wachee Springs.

Hey, if you thought the alphabet made from butterfly wings was hot stuff, wait until you hear about the Fishabet.Mindy Matthews, a Sanford artist, has been making money since 1984 off a poster of the alphabet made from drawings of fish and other sea stuff.But there's trouble in Fishabet city. The old Fishabet ''M'' isn't politically correct. It's a mermaid - and a rather well-endowed, scantily shelled fish miss at that.''I threw in a little fiction so the poster would teach the sciences and the arts,'' Matthews said.

Jodi Benson may sing ``I want to be where the people are'' in her sleep, but her gig as the voice of The Little Mermaid has blossomed into full-time Disney employment.And we're not just talking all those concerts in the theme park.Benson, who was the voice behind Robin Williams' robot in Flubber, will be the voice of Barbie in Toy Story II, Lady in the Lady and the Tramp sequel, and Helen of Troy in the animated Hercules TV series.Benson, who also has released three CDs and six videos, is expecting her first child in January.

OSLO, Norway -- A bare-breasted blond mermaid perched atop a rock is making tourists gape in disbelief along a Norwegian fjord. "One man once jumped off a boat and swam over to me," Line Oexnevad, 37, and mother of two children, said Tuesday of her unorthodox job as a professional siren. "Most people just look and cheer." Oexnevad, naked except for a long blond wig and a costume fish-tail, said she has sat five times on a rock along the Lyse fjord in West Norway in the past three summers, hired as a surprise attraction for tourist boat trips and parties.

The role of a strong fatherly character is essential in many Disney animated films. For films like "The Little Mermaid," "Pocahontas" and "Finding Nemo," this is due to one simple fact -- all the moms are dead. Or, at least, nonexistent. On that cheery note, happy Father's Day. On this day of celebrating dads everywhere, I've decided to rank the greatest fathers in Disney (or Disney-Pixar) animated films. Some were obvious, while others took some time and research to determine if they belong in the "Disney Dads Hall of Fame.

A group of local retired women meets on a regular schedule to clean trash, algae and weeds from De Leon Springs at De Leon Springs State Park north of Deland. in 1513, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon began searching Florida for the fountain of youth. Today, these ladies swear swimming and caring for the beautiful springs are keeping them young. The 68-degree spring was the site of an Indian village and later a sugar-cane plantation and a tourist attraction before becoming a state park in 1982.

EUSTIS - Cassidy Kearney, left and Isa Simmons are featured in the Bay Street Players' Summer Camp production of Disney's "The Little Mermaid Jr. " Performances are set for 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the State Theatre, 109 N. Bay St. In the story, beautiful young mermaid Ariel, in a magical kingdom in the ocean deep, yearns to live in the world above the sea. But for that to occur she must to defy her father,...

The Little Mermaid wing is now open at Disney's Art of Animation Resort, marking the fourth and final puzzle piece in the newest resort at Walt Disney World . The resort opened to fanfare with the Finding Nemo wing back in May followed by Cars in June and the Lion King in August. The resort is labeled one of Disney's value resorts, and looks to cater to families, especially those with more than four in their party. The first three wings feature 1,120 family suites that include two bathrooms, a kitchenette and three separate sleeping areas for up to six guest.

Jim Abbott on Florida Travel and Postcards from Florida, September 8, 2012

There's something about a mermaid that makes a guy a little bit nervous. That much is obvious if you linger for a few minutes next to the pavilion where the mermaids of Weeki Wachee Springs State Park (weekiwachee.com) pose for photos several times daily at the iconic, utterly old-school attraction at the intersection of State Road 50 and U.S. Highway 19 in rural Spring Hill. "Go on," one enthusiastic mother urges her shy, tongue-tied son, who looks to be about 13. "Go up and get your picture taken with the mermaid!"

Extreme makeovers are all the rage these days. First, Matel made the Bald Barbie, and that we were okay with. Anything helping kids, who've lost their hair to an illness, gain a bit of normalcy is good by us! When you start messing with a Disney classic, however, there's going to be problems. A plastic surgery center in Venezuela set their sights on the Little Mermaid, giving Ariel a new set of legs, lips and a bigger set of breasts to fill those sea shells. The result? An Ariel meets Jessica Rabbit type character, who looks like she'd be more interested in seamen than finding her prince charming. Besides, fixing an animation doesn't require any surgical-skill.

In its eighth week of release, with over $70 million in receipts, Disney's Beauty and the Beast is turning into the studio's biggest animated film ever. ''It is outperforming Little Mermaid,'' reports Bob Levin, Disney's president of worldwide marketing, ''and Little Mermaid outperformed everything before it. It's a very satisfying feeling.''Not only are kids and grown-ups lining up to see Disney's 30th full-length animated movie, but this retelling of the French fable has won the hearts of critics as well.

WELLINGTON -- Artist Norman Gitzen is determined to defend his buxom babe. After all, he created her. Lovingly shaped out of hand-pounded steel and bronze, the mermaid, called The Siren, has provoked spirited debate about art and the obscene. The sculpture is part of the village's recently established public art program. About 21 artists have lent artwork to be displayed in public places throughout the village. But it's The Siren, prominently displayed at the entrance to the Wellington Community Center, that has folks talking.

Situated on a faux rock, three beautiful mermaids wearing colorful tails and seashell bras greeted each guest who walked into the Wyndham Orlando convention hall Saturday. Across the room at Merpalooza, a gathering of mermaid and mermen enthusiasts going on in Orlando this weekend, more of the mythical beasts posed for pictures, fans eyed mermaid art and vendors sold custom-made tails with $1,500 price tags. "I don't have a tail, but I would really, really like one," said Sloane Shaffer, a 24-year-old Orlando woman who attended the convention Saturday.

The wedding guests were late, the deejay left early, and the cake was a catastrophe. An Orlando bride's "Little Mermaid"-themed wedding tanked, and "Bridezillas" captured the drama for posterity. Viewers can see how the April celebration went wrong at 10 p.m. Sunday on WEtv. Liza Torres-Garcia dreamed of a "Little Mermaid" wedding. "I love the sea, I love to snorkel. I loved the movie, too," she said. "I usually have my hair red. It made me feel related to the Little Mermaid.